Dustin Hoffman Calls Bush Manipulative

Dustin Hoffman, in London to pick up a lifetime achievement award Wednesday at the Sony Ericsson Empire Awards, has joined the growing list of celebrities voicing opposition to war against Iraq.

“I don’t think, like many others, that these are the honest reasons that we are going into the war,” the star, 65, told PEOPLE on the same day that Colin Powell presented his arguments to the United Nations for taking up arms against Saddam Hussein.

“They’re saying things about Iraq having biological weapons. They might have nuclear weapons, and that gives us the liberty to preempt a strike because we think they may hit us. Then what prevents Pakistan from attacking India? What prevents India from attacking Pakistan? What prevents us from going into North Korea, which also has biological weapons.”

Hoffman also acknowledged that Iraq is not the only country to hold nuclear weapons.